“And I’m pumped. I really I’m not as panicked about winning the championship as a lot of drivers might be. Would I love to have a season title, absolutely. But Ace (McCulloch) never one and he’s still one of the biggest names in the history of the sport.

“I started thinking this off-season that if I don’t win a championship, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t define me. I’m okay with it. If it happens great.”

So the renaissance driver moves forward in a sport that advances at warp speed on and off the track. Computers have replaced torque wrenches as the best way to tune a nitro-propelled dragster.

“We’ve gotten much like Formula One,” said Capps. “We’ll come in after every run and de-brief. As soon as I get back to the pits after a run, the computer cartridge is pulled off the car and the run is analyzed. Everything mechical is now digital and electronic.

“I know enough about it that I can follow it. During the run I can be ready for the changes they make. They’ll be working on something and two seconds into the run it clicks in. If I catch it good, if not, I’m sideways at 200 mph.”

Part of Capps longs for the old days.

“I wish they would unplug the computers and see who would rise to the top,” he said. “I’m old school. I always felt I was born 20 years too late.”